Porsche crash: Two more arrests in blood swapping case

Pune police crime branch have arrested two more persons in connection with the alleged swapping of blood samples of minors who were with the juvenile accused in the Pune Porsche car crash case

Pune: Pune police crime branch have arrested two more persons in connection with the alleged swapping of blood samples of minors who were with the juvenile accused in the Pune Porsche car crash case, a top official said on Tuesday.

Pune police crime branch have arrested two more persons in connection with the alleged swapping of blood samples of minors who were with the juvenile accused in the Pune Porsche car crash case. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

The arrested duo included the father of one of the two minors who were with the 17-year-old driver when he rammed his speeding Porsche car into two IT professionals on a motorbike at Kalyaninagar on May 19.

With the arrest of the duo, identified as Aditya Avinash Sood, 52, from Ghorpadi and Ashish Satish Mittal, 37, from Vimannagar late Monday night, the number of persons held in the car crash case has gone up to nine. Search for another accused Arun Kumar Singh is on.

The arrested duo’s blood samples were allegedly used as replacement for the samples of two minors.

Sood is the father of one of the minors, while Mittal is the friend of another minor’s father, Singh.

In his submission to the court, investigation officer ACP Ganesh Ingale said, “Both accused swapped blood samples to mislead the investigation hence they were held under Sections 201, 120 B, 467 and need seven days custody to investigate further links.”’

Defence lawyer of Sood, Abid Mulani, in his submission said, “Police have arrested my client without giving prior notice. He has recorded his statement, appeared before police several times and shared everything. Hence, there is no ground for his arrest.”’ According to Mulani, both minors present in the car at the time of accident were police witnesses. Their statements have been included in the charge sheet and now his father is arrested.

Defence lawyer of Mittal, Seol Shah, in his submission stated that despite all details recorded in the charge sheet, police want to investigate the bribe angle.

While Sood runs a factory that supplies parts to the aviation industry, Mittal is a realtor. Singh is a labour contractor.

According to the police, the two minors were present along with the juvenile with conflict of law in the car at the time of accident. All of them were allegedly under the influence of alcohol and their parents along with doctors at Sassoon General Hospital hatched a plan to swap blood samples by using mediators and there was an exchange of bribes that needs to be probed.

Police sources said that the accused were on the run and visited Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Goa and Delhi before they were arrested late Monday night.

A case has been filed against the accused under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 467 (forgery of valuable security).

Meanwhile, the boy’s parents and two doctors, Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Shrihari Halnor, and Atul Ghatkamble, former staffer at Sassoon General Hospital, have already been arrested for allegedly swapping the blood samples of the teen driver with those of his mother when he was taken for a medical examination after the crash.

Two other accused — Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad — acted as middlemen between the father and the doctors to facilitate financial transactions to swap the blood samples. They were also arrested earlier.

(With agency inputs)